Driven Under
by loribird84
Summary: Liz Jordan has a near perfect life...But things change, and she finds comfort in the arms of Remus Lupin.
1. Chapter 1

*Disclaimer* Harry Potter and all of it's characters belong to J.K. Rowling, it is not mine, and I am not making any money off of this story.  
  
*Summary* Okay, I honestly have NO idea where this plot is heading.All I know at this point is that it will be a romance between my fictional character Liz Jordan and Remus Lupin, with some twists thrown in. Please please please email me if you have ANY ideas about plot development, character development, etc. I could really use the help! : )  
  
BTW this is my very first fanfiction, but I love reading it so much that I just had to write my own, especially one with Lupin (!) as one of the main characters. Also, I am not a total Harry Potter nut, I just read the books, so forgive me if I mess up minor details, and feel free to correct me on them. I hope you enjoy!  
  
*Lori*  
  
Driven Under  
  
Chapter One  
  
'Liz Jordan was not beautiful.'  
  
This was the line she repeated in her head like a mantra almost every morning when she first  
  
looked in the mirror, often with an amused inner smile. They were the famous opening words  
  
of Gone With the Wind (with Scarlett O'Hara's name in place of her own, of course), the  
  
Muggle book she had read when she was eleven and had reread at least once a year. Her  
  
parents were both Muggles, so she was thankfully allowed, even encouraged, to read non-  
  
magical books over the summer holidays.  
  
It was this quote that she thought of with a big smile as she gazed in the mirror on  
  
this Wednesday morning in July. The reason that she always found this so entertaining was  
  
that, after a hot shower, the use of her blow dryer, and the application of makeup, she was  
  
actual quite beautiful, almost stunningly so. Her thick, light brown hair went from limp and  
  
dirty feeling from not being washed since 24 hours before, to shiny and straight, glimmering  
  
with the small golden highlights that had been added from many hours of lying out by the pool  
  
during the summer. Her lightly tanned, dull skin adopted a subtle glow from a small  
  
application of bronzer, and her full lips had a wash of color added to them. Her big, bright  
  
green eyes, eyes to rival those of Scarlett O'Hara herself, were carefully lined, and her  
  
eyelashes were curled and mascara'd. Sometimes, if she happened to be thinking of it, she  
  
would think to herself, 'Liz Jordan was quite beautiful!' with a small smile.  
  
Liz thought that life's little ironies should be taken with a light heart and a quick smile,  
  
and the thing she found so ironic about her appearance was that, even though she knew that  
  
other people thought of her as a beautiful young lady, at the end of the day, when  
  
her hair was up in a messy ponytail and her makeup was washed off, she was just a very  
  
plain, almost ugly 16 year old girl. Sometimes she found herself wishing that she was a  
  
natural beauty, so that she didn't have to wake up extra early to make herself up in the  
  
morning or so she didn't have to carry eyeliner or mascara or other such things in her bag for  
  
midday touch ups. But she would quickly squash those thoughts out of her mind, because she  
  
was just not meant to be naturally good looking. It might be a pain in the ass to have to be so  
  
high maintenance all the time, but wishful thinking would do her absolutely no good.  
  
This particular morning, she was not really thinking of all these things. Instead, she  
  
was too busy looking forward to the fun day ahead. Today she was going to Diagon Alley to  
  
shop for school supplies for the upcoming year at Hogwarts, where she was going into her  
  
sixth year. As most of her friends' parents were witches and wizards and lived in the magical  
  
world, and her parents were Muggles so she lived just outside of London, she did not get to  
  
see them much during the summer. But today, they all had plans to meet and go shopping  
  
together. Liz was very excited to finally see her friends again after a long summer of missing  
  
them. Sure, they owled back and forth frequently, but for teenage girls, that was just not the  
  
same as seeing each other in person.  
  
After she finished her morning 'beautification' routine, she got dressed in jeans and a  
  
T-Shirt and pulled on her witches robes over them, slightly dusty and wrinkled from almost  
  
three months of sitting in the bottom of her trunk. She went downstairs, and cast a longing  
  
glance at the shiny grand piano sitting in the parlor, her fingers just itching to play. Piano was  
  
her one true love, and she had learned a long time ago that days that began with a bit of  
  
playing were often the best days. But, with a glance at the clock on the mantle, it was almost  
  
11:00, and she was to meet her friends at the candy shop in 30 minutes. She walked to the  
  
kitchen, where her mother was busy directing a group of caterers with the final preparations  
  
for the luncheon she was hosting later that day. It was for her Garden Club or something, Liz  
  
recalled, but her mother held parties and lunches and things like that so often that it  
  
would be impossible to keep track what they were for.  
  
Her parents were not extraordinarily rich, as people who participate in so many social  
  
events often are, but they were without a doubt very well off, and her mother was a natural  
  
hostess, renowned in upper middle class London society for her extravagant parties. 'It must  
  
be a strain on her sometimes to have to make up stories about my whereabouts while I'm at  
  
Hogwarts', Liz thought with a small pang of guilt, 'but she certainly can't tell them where I  
  
really am.' Her parents' usual alibi for her was that she was attending a private boarding  
  
school in the States, where none of her parents' friends' children attended, so it would be hard  
  
for them to check, not like they would, of course.  
  
"Mum, I'm leaving!" Liz called over the heads of the many caterers and assorted hired  
  
help that were currently bustling about. Her preoccupied mother glanced up and smiled, and  
  
called out a "Bye, Honey!" in return, her hands busy rearranging a bouquet of lilies that some  
  
maid had doubtlessly screwed up somehow. Liz turned and retreated into the next room,  
  
smiling to herself while thinking what a wonder it was that she was so down to earth with a  
  
mother like hers, who liked to spoil her rotten, but also felt that throwing parties and  
  
entertaining an endless supply of friends and acquaintances was more important than  
  
spending time with her only child. Despite this, Liz loved her mother very much, and held very  
  
little resentment against her and Liz's equally absent father, who spent much more time at  
  
work and on business trips than he did at home.  
  
Liz wandered aimlessly towards the foyer, where she glanced at the towering  
  
grandfather clock to discover that she had a whole 20 minutes until it was time to leave.  
  
Without a single doubt of what she would do with this unexpected amount of free time, she  
  
headed back towards the parlor, and happily sat down in front of what she privately  
  
considered her 'best friend'. Even though her winning combination of good looks, a bright  
  
personality, and, on top of it all, money, had always ensured that she would have a large  
  
number of friends, she had always felt that the time she spent with her piano was better than  
  
the time she spent with real people, even people she actually liked.  
  
She quickly jumped into a happy, light piece by Lizst, loving the way her hands felt  
  
running over the smooth, ivory keys, almost with a mind of their own. Lizst soon transformed  
  
into a slightly darker Bach composition, a bittersweet piece that lifted her already wonderful  
  
mood into new, blissful heights. She soon slid into the state of mind that so often overcame  
  
her when she played, a place where she was totally unaware of her surroundings, unaware of  
  
anything except the music. With the persistent ringing of the doorbell, though, she was  
  
abruptly jolted out of her reverie. She looked at the mantle clock, thinking that surely it was a  
  
mistake, that the clock was totally off, because it couldn't possibly be 12:30 already! She had  
  
only sat down to play for a few minutes, 30 at the most! Certainly not for more than an hour!  
  
She jumped up, shaking a little as she almost always did unintentionally when she realized  
  
that she was very, very late for something.  
  
Without a second thought, she picked up her bag and grabbed the floo powder that  
  
was on top of the mantle, disguised as ashes in a porcelain urn. She threw it into the fire and  
  
said clearly, "Diagon Alley", but not too loudly as she realized that the first of her mother's  
  
guests must have already arrived, and it certainly wouldn't do to have them overhear her.  
  
Green swirled all around her, and after a few moments she very abruptly landed on her bum  
  
in the middle of a crowded tavern. She stood up and brushed herself off, and, always self-  
  
conscience about her looks, went to the bathroom to check her hair and makeup. After a few  
  
minor touchups, she gladly emerged from the small, odd smelling bathroom and left the  
  
tavern. Once outside, she looked up with renewed wonder at the sight of Diagon Alley, with all  
  
its wonderfully interesting shops, filled with things that she could probably spend hours, even  
  
days, messing around with. She smiled to herself and shook her head slightly. Magic never  
  
ceased to fascinate her, even after 6 years spent filled with it.  
  
She slipped into the busy crowd and made her way down the street. It seemed that the shops  
  
always changed their location, making it increasingly hard to find exactly where she was  
  
looking for. In this case, it was the ice cream shop that she and her magical friends had  
  
frequented for the past six years, and where she was supposed to have met them almost two  
  
hours ago. She remembered it being between Flourish and Blotts and a wizarding version of  
  
CVS pharmacy, but when she approached the supposed location, it wasn't there. In its place,  
  
however was something even better. The sparkling sign displayed the store's name, 'The  
  
Magic of Music', in big, bold letters, surrounded by dancing music notes. It's big glass windows  
  
were filled with instruments of every variety, from pianos and harpsichords, to gleaming  
  
English horns and a magical instrument that she recognized as a cintolay, a strange mixture of  
  
a harp and a clarinet. 'I bet they have sheet music!' Liz thought excitedly, and then  
  
remembered guiltily that she was supposed to be finding her friends. 'Oh, what the hell. I'm  
  
already really late, I might as well go in and take a look.'  
  
Once inside, she felt a shiver go through her as she looked around at the beauty of all the  
  
musical instruments. She quickly spotted a gigantic rack of sheet music up front marked  
  
'Piano', and gazed at it in wonder. 'I could happily spend all day in here' she thought dreamily.  
  
She kneeled down and began rifling through the sheets on the lower part of the rack. Soon  
  
she was once again in her own little world, lost in the towering stacks of music and the pure  
  
joy of finding such a place. She hardly noticed a shadow suddenly falling over her, nor did she  
  
hear the light 'click' of the footsteps that accompanied it. She did, however, notice when  
  
something strong grabbed her shoulder and pulled her down on top of it. She let out a small  
  
yelp of surprise and confusion and, still trying to get a sense of her surroundings, lay still on  
  
top of what felt like a person. Her suspicions were proved correct when she felt heavy  
  
breathing on the back of her head. The mystery person groaned lightly and muttered  
  
'Goddamn' under his/her breath. From the tone of the voice, Liz concluded that this person  
  
was definitely a male, or else a very mannish sounding woman. Something in Liz's brain  
  
snapped, and it finally dawned on her that she was lying in a very uncomfortable position on  
  
top of a stranger. Rather annoyed that her peaceful reverie had been broken for the second  
  
time that day, she rolled over onto her stomach and found herself face to face to a very  
  
attractive middle aged man. All her annoyance was promptly forgotten when his hazel eyes  
  
met her green as each took in the other's appearance, and suddenly Liz became very  
  
conscience of the fact that she was lying on top of a very good- looking wizard in the middle of  
  
a music store. The man's eyes widened suddenly, as though he too had just become aware of  
  
her presence.  
  
"I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed breathlessly.  
  
"It's quite okay," she said in almost a whisper, realizing that she was breathing very hard and  
  
suddenly wondered whether it was from the shock of the fall or from the sheer good looks of  
  
this mysterious man. Either way, it was definitely time to get off of him. She stood up and  
  
offered a hand down to help the man up. He took it, and as he stood up he groaned again. He  
  
put a hand on his back.  
  
"I think I hurt my back when I tripped," he said, wincing.  
  
Then he looked up at Liz. Or down rather, as he was a bit taller than she was. He blinked at  
  
her in disbelief, as if she were a ghost or something. Then he seemed to get his senses about  
  
him.  
  
"I'm-umm I'm really sorry I tripped over you, I guess I just wasn't paying attention." He said sincerely, and then added, "I get so out of it when I'm around music, I'm hardly aware of anything around me," he said with a small smile.  
  
Liz paused before answering him as her brain registered this new information.  
  
"You-you play the piano?" she finally asked, a bit dumbly.  
  
"Yea, ever since I can remember. Of course, I don't have as much time as I used to for practicing, but I still love playing. I assume you play.?" he cocked his head slightly and gestured to the spot where she had been looking.  
  
"Umm." she blinked, still not fully back in the real world. "Yes-yes I do," she stuttered. "I'm afraid I get the same way you do when I'm around music, otherwise our fall may have been prevented," she added with a smile.  
  
"Is your back okay?" she asked as an afterthought.  
  
He blinked, as though he had no idea what she was talking about.  
  
"Umm.yes, it's quite fine now. I can't even feel it!" he added reassuringly.  
  
They both stood there for a moment until Liz suddenly remembered that this man was a total stranger. 'Hopefully not for long.' she thought to herself slyly.  
  
"I'm Liz. Liz Jordan." she said hastily. She extended her hand. The man shook it.  
  
"Nice to meet you. I'm Remus Lupin."  
  
A/N: To be continued. I'm afraid I'm a bit winded after so much writing in one night, so I'll leave it there for now. R and R please!!!! 


	2. Chapter 2

*Disclaimer* Harry Potter and all of it's characters belong to J.K. Rowling, it is not mine, and I am not making any money off of this story.  
  
Driven Under  
  
Chapter Two  
  
At that moment, a small crowd of laughing teenagers burst in the door. Liz recognized her  
  
friends, and waved violently at them.  
  
"Hey, guys!!!" she cried excitedly, realizing just how much she had missed them. They  
  
stopped and looked at her.  
  
"Liz, what are you doing here?!" her best friend Stephanie Taylor cried, her blue eyes lighting  
  
up. Then she frowned.  
  
"Where the hell where you? You were supposed to meet us at the ice cream shop like, a year  
  
ago! Oh well, who cares, I'm just so happy to see you!" she said, smiling again.  
  
She ran forward to give Liz a hug, followed by the rest of her friends, all rushing to say hi to  
  
Liz. Stephanie squeezed her best friend so tightly that Liz thought she would burst. Suddenly,  
  
Stephanie let go and stepped away.  
  
"And who might this be?" she asked, gesturing behind Liz and giving her a mischievous smile.  
  
Liz turned, and remembered that Remus was standing behind her.  
  
"Oh my God, I totally forgot! This is Remus Lupin! We met just a few minutes ago!" she  
  
exclaimed, grabbing Remus's arm and gently pushing him forward.  
  
He shook hands with Stephanie.  
  
"It's very nice to meet you," he said with a smile.  
  
"Though I can't say Liz has mentioned you, seeing as though we've only just met, and under  
  
rather abnormal circumstances at that," he added, winking at Liz.  
  
"Professor Lupin?" her friend Julie's older brother John stepped forward, squinting in disbelief.  
  
"John Hartley!" Remus stepped forward, equally surprised.  
  
"How are you?" he asked, giving John a small hug. "I haven't seen you in ages!"  
  
Liz frowned, obviously confused.  
  
"How do you two know each other?"  
  
"Professor Lupin taught me when I was in my fifth year at Hogwarts. Despite the occasional  
  
detention, I'd have to say that Professor Lupin was the best teacher I ever had!" John said,  
  
smiling. John had been two years ahead of the infamous Harry Potter in school, and was now  
  
working at the Ministry of Magic.  
  
"What are you doing in England? I could have sworn that Professor Dumbledore said that you  
  
were taking a leave of absence in China studying lizards or something or the other!"  
  
"Well, after almost five years there, I finally realized that studying lizards, even the limphonius  
  
species, was probably the most frightfully boring thing one could be doing." He told John with  
  
a wink. "So, since they have made considerable advances in the study of the control of  
  
werewolves, Professor Dumbledore agreed that it would be quite okay if I resumed my  
  
teaching position at Hogwarts."  
  
"Well, we're certainly glad to have you back!" John said brightly. His high opinion of Remus  
  
Lupin hadn't wavered in the least after he found out that Professor Lupin was a werewolf.  
  
"So, you're a professor at Hogwarts?" Liz asked, still a bit confused.  
  
"I sure am," He told her with a smile. "I assume you attend Hogwarts?"  
  
"Yes, we're sixth years." Stephanie answered for her.  
  
"Well, I suppose that means I'll see you all fairly soon! Needless to say, I'm looking forward to  
  
teaching this group of apparently well behaved sixth years!" he said, grinning, as he headed  
  
toward the door.  
  
"By the way, nice to meet you, Liz!" he called out over his shoulder.  
  
'Nice to meet you too, Professor Lupin,' she thought grimly. 'Great. The first good-looking guy  
  
I meet, even if he is old enough to be my father, is my new teacher. Terrific.'  
  
"Come on, Liz, let's go. We still have a ton of shopping to do." Carrie Cameron said, grabbing  
  
her friend's arm. "So where were you? We waited for at least an hour at the ice cream place,  
  
but you never showed!" Liz explained what had happened, feeling bad that she had caused her  
  
friends to wait around for so long. "Well, that's ok. All will be forgotten once you treat us to  
  
some Chocolate Frogs!" Julie said with a grin. Julie had an insatiable love for candy of all  
  
types. With that, they walked down the street, talking and laughing just like old times. 


	3. Chapter 3

*Disclaimer* Harry Potter and all of it's characters belong to J.K. Rowling, it is not mine, and I am not making any money off of this story.  
  
Driven Under  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Liz gazed at her cluttered room in a mild fury. "GODAMMIT!!!" she shouted at the top of her  
  
lungs, not caring who heard. She flung a shoe at the door. Being only a flip-flop, it did not  
  
make the satisfying 'bang' that she had intended, instead just bounced off the door softly.  
  
With one last "ARGHHH!!!" she flopped down on the bed, tired and mad. 'Goddamn the fucking  
  
Ministry!!! Why can't I just use magic! I'd only use it for packing, it's not like I'd try to destroy  
  
the fucking world or something' she thought bitterly. 'How exactly am I supposed to fit  
  
everything I need for the next year in this one trunk?' The angelic little voice in her head  
  
whispered that maybe she shouldn't try to pack so much, to just pack the things she needed.  
  
"But I need all of this!" she said aloud, looking around at the countless clothing items, pairs of  
  
shoes, and pieces of jewelry strewn about the room. 'Well you'll just have to do without some  
  
of it' the logical side of her brain argued. "FINE!" she shouted angrily, not really caring that  
  
anyone who happened to be outside of her door listening would think that she was quite crazy.  
  
She started to unpack and repack her trunk for the thousandth time, looking longingly at all  
  
the things she was leaving out. 'Oh well, at least you'll see your friends again in just 24  
  
hours..'  
  
***  
  
'God, I'm so glad to be back here' Liz thought for the umpteenth time since she had stepped  
  
inside Hogwarts. Sitting at the Ravenclaw table surrounded by her friends was the best place  
  
she could possibly imagine being right now. She wasn't even thinking about tired she was  
  
from having to wake up at 5 o'clock, an almost ungodly hour in her opinion. Her friends  
  
weren't faring quite so well, though. Julie's head was in a drooped over position, and Liz had  
  
to keep giving her shoves to keep her from falling into her plate of food. Carrie had a dazed  
  
expression on her face as she mechanically ate her mashed potatoes. Stephanie and her  
  
boyfriend Timothy Bloom, who were sitting across from her, were actually asleep, with Tim's  
  
face on the table and Stephanie sprawled across his back. It didn't help that everyone in the  
  
other houses seemed to be wide-awake, some of them pointing and snickering good-naturedly  
  
at the brain dead group of Ravenclaws. Liz and her group of friends were notorious for being  
  
late risers, most of them having been in similar positions throughout the Sorting Ceremony  
  
and feast in previous years. Liz was usually pretty good about hiding her fatigue, trying her  
  
best to appear bright eyed and cheerful no matter how tired she was. At the moment, she was  
  
talking animatedly to her friend Sean, who she suspected wasn't even half awake. After a  
  
while, she left him alone, and looked around the room.  
  
Her eyes rested on the staff table, where everyone was eating and talking to each other in  
  
hushed voices, lest any students overhear their oh-so- secretive discussion over lesson plans  
  
and new cauldrons, Liz thought with an eye roll. The usual professors were still there, give or  
  
take a few, most of them looking no different than they had the last six years she had known  
  
them. Liz seriously doubted that magical people ever changed in appearance once they  
  
reached a certain age. She saw Remus Lupin talking to Professor McGonagal, who looked very  
  
happy to see her old student and friend back at Hogwarts. Remus-no! Professor Lupin, Liz  
  
thought with a mental slap to the forehead- looked a bit overwhelmed, but happy and  
  
comfortable nonetheless. 'No matter how attractive you think he is, he is totally off limits, not  
  
only because he is probably twenty years your senior and your teacher at that' she said  
  
sternly to herself. 'Plus, he probably doesn't even remember you.' And the issue was closed,  
  
for that was how it was with Liz. When she ordered her mind to forget something she had  
  
thought, her brain effectively sent that thought to the back of her mind, unlikely to ever be  
  
brought out again.  
  
With that settled, she turned her attention back to her friends. With a contented sigh, she  
  
rested her head on the shoulder of Sean (who was now asleep), smiled, and closed her eyes.  
  
'How nice it is to be here' was her last thought as fatigue set in and she joined her friends in  
  
their slumber. 


	4. Chapter 4

*Disclaimer* Harry Potter and all of it's characters belong to J.K. Rowling, it is not mine, and I am not making any money off of this story.  
  
Driven Under  
  
Chapter Four  
  
The first few weeks, classes at Hogwarts went by surprisingly smoothly for Liz. She was doing quite well in her classes, Professor Snape was noticeably more relaxed and thus nicer, one presumed from having spent the summer in Aruba on honeymoon with his new wife -who would have thought the eternally grouchy Potions Master would ever get married? - and she felt only a small pang of regret when Professor Lupin started calling her 'Miss Jordan' instead of 'Liz'. She settled into to her school routine with remarkable ease, though the same could not be said for Stephanie. Liz practically had to slap her in the face to wake her up in the mornings, since she had gotten into the bad habit of staying up very late with her boyfriend Tim. 'Doing God only knows what' Liz often thought with a small grimace. It was disgusting enough that Steph was staying out until 2 o'clock in the morning with any boy, but not only was this boy Tim Bloom, the hottest guy in their house and maybe even the whole school, but the guy Liz had dated for almost 6 months back in fourth year and still had some feelings for. They had broken up when Liz finally got tired of never seeing him after classes, since he was almost always busy with Quidditch practices or extra homework or whatever else it was he did that kept him from being with Liz. 'He seems able to spend quite a bit of time with Stephanie she thought bitterly. Oh well, a boy is a stupid reason to be mad with your best friend over.  
  
Besides, she was too busy worrying over Steph to be pissed off at her. Stephanie's usually better-than-average grades had been slipping lately, enough for Professors Flitwick and McGonagal to be concerned enough for both of them talk to her about it. As she had later told Liz, she had simply told them that she hadn't been feeling well, her excuse for everything. On top of that, three different teachers had given her detentions within a period of two weeks. It was hardly fathomable that someone like Stephanie, who had been a pretty good student her entire career at Hogwarts, would ever end up in this position. Liz was truly worried.  
  
The reason for Stephanie's recent downfall, though, became clear to Liz one Wednesday afternoon in September. On the way down to the Great Hall, she remembered that she had left her Transfiguration materials in the dorm, which she would need after lunch. "I'll meet you down there!" she shouted to her friends, and raced upstairs. Once she was in her room, on her hands and knees looking to see if the books were under her bed, she realized that she was not alone in the room. There was a sound that sounded suspiciously like crying coming from the bed next to hers. 'Stephanie's bed' she realized. "Steph?" she called. "Go away!" was her muffled response. Liz got up and approached the bed. She drew back the hangings on the bed to discover her best friend sobbing into her pillow. "Leave me alone!" she cried, trying half heartedly to pull the curtains back in place. Liz pulled them back open, and sat next to her on the bed.  
  
"What's the matter, honey?" Liz asked, putting her arm around Stephanie.  
  
"It's nothing, I promise!" Stephanie protested weakly, her sobbing having turned into light crying.  
  
"C'mon, tell me! What's a best friend for if you can't confide in her?" Liz said cheerfully, thinking how clichéd that sounded.  
  
"Fine, I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone! Okay?"  
  
"I promise! I swear to God!"  
  
"Myparentsgotadivorce."  
  
"What?" "MY PARENTS GOT A DIVORCE, OKAY?"  
  
"Ohhh." Liz sighed sympathetically. As she understood, it was very rare when a wizarding couple got a divorce.  
  
"Why did they have to go and do that?" Stephanie cried angrily, tears forgotten. "God, I'm so embarrassed! I don't know anybody whose parents are divorced!"  
  
"I know plenty of people who have divorced parents!" Liz said. "Practically everyone is divorced nowadays!"  
  
"But that's in the Muggle world!!! That's totally different!"  
  
Liz was silent for a moment, knowing very well that Stephanie was right.  
  
"It'll be okay, I promise. There's absolutely nothing to worry about, no one will ever know." Liz told her soothingly.  
  
"If you say so." Stephanie said resignedly, obviously disbelieving.  
  
"It's true! I promise! Now we're both going to march our asses downstairs and have some lunch, and we're gonna act like everything is just peachy!" Liz said firmly but with a smile, knowing how much her friend hated the word 'peachy'.  
  
Stephanie laughed. "Okay, let me clean myself up first, and then I supposed I can manage an appearance at the Great Hall!" she said with a grin, as she got up to go to the bathroom.  
  
Liz shook her head in amusement. 'One thing to be said about the girl is that she sure can change her mood easily' she thought to herself as she joined her friend in the bathroom to check her makeup.  
  
Liz and Stephanie walked arm and arm into the Great Hall, laughing and talking in whispers, the picture of friendship. They sat down at the Ravenclaw with the rest of their friends. "Wow, what did you do? Steph's been acting depressed for the past two weeks, I thought maybe she was having extended PMS or something," Tim whispered in her ear, gesturing across the table to where Stephanie was talking animatedly to Carrie. Liz punched him playfully in the arm. "You better hope that I don't tell her what you just said, I guarantee your ass would be in the doghouse for the rest of the year, maybe longer!" she with mock sternness. They both bust out laughing, causing Liz to be reminded of just how cute the way Tim crinkled up his nose when he laughed was. 'Stop that,' she told herself, 'you just make things more miserable for yourself when you think things like that!'  
  
"You're a hoot, Liz, don't forget that!" Tim told her, giving her a small hug. 'How that hell am I supposed to forget about Tim when he says things like that!' she thought, feeling her knees go weak at his touch. When he released her, she glanced involuntarily at Stephanie, who happened to be giving her a very evil look. "Hey, what's wrong, dahling?" Liz asked her with a laugh. Stephanie blinked, and smiled. "Oh nothing, just staring at your gorgeous face!" she said, reaching over to pinch Liz's cheeks. Everyone around them burst out laughing, Liz and Stephanie the hardest. At that moment the bell rang, and they all rushed out of the Hall together, hurrying to get to class. Liz couldn't help thinking just how great her friends were.  
  
**************************************************************************** *** "Dammit!" Liz exclaimed, looking around at her friends' arms, full of books. "I forgot to get my books!"  
  
"Geez, Liz, you forgot to get them when you went upstairs? What a ditz!" Julie said loudly, playfully knocking her friend in the side.  
  
"Oh, shit, McGonagal's gonna be so pissed!" Liz cried, already racing down the corridor towards the Ravenclaw tower, leaving her laughing friends behind. 'Real funny, it'll take me at least 10 minutes to get back to the dorm, even if I run the whole way! Not to mention that I have to actually find them, which could take forever, and then run all the way back!'  
  
She quickened her pace. She could be pretty fast when she wanted to be, which was a definite advantage in a place as gigantic as Hogwarts. Unfortunately, running as fast as she could around a place that contained numerous staircases and twisting corridors resulted in feeling not so good, as she discovered when she finally reached her room, panting so hard she had to sit down on her bed for a few moments before feeling up to looking for her books.  
  
After turning the room upside down, she finally found them in the top drawer of Stephanie's bureau, remembering that she had lent them to her last week when she accidentally left hers in the classroom. She leaped downstairs and out of the common room, books tightly in her arms, feeling a bit angry with Steph for being the cause of all her current misery. She almost broke into a run, but stopped and started walking. 'Oh, what the hell, I'm screwed anyway.' She thought bitterly. 'Thanks a lot, Steph.' Then a pang of guilt stabbed her, and she remembered that just an hour before, Stephanie had basically poured her heart out to her, telling her something that she had kept hidden for months.  
  
Liz slowed her pace, feeling considerably more kindly towards her best friend. Lost in her thoughts, she strolled almost leisurely towards that Transfiguration classroom. Suddenly,  
  
*SMACK*  
  
Liz was flung onto her back onto the floor, books flying out of her hand. She heard a familiar groan, and realized who it was that she had just rammed into.  
  
"Professor Lupin?" she called, still lying on the ground.  
  
"Miss Jordan?" he replied, lifting himself of the ground and brushing off his robes. He walked over to Liz and offered his hand. She took it, and he hoisted her off the ground.  
  
He smiled. "I'm afraid we're going to have to stop running into each other like this!"  
  
She returned his smile, very aware of how close they were standing. "Yes, if you weren't so nice, I would almost be inclined to think that you're trying to send me to the Hospital Wing!" she said teasingly, feeling a bit flirty.  
  
'NO! You are NOT feeling a bit flirty, because he is DEFINITEDLY NOT some teenage boy that you can shamelessly flirt with, Liz! He is your TEACHER! JUST STOP IT!' her inner voice cried angrily. Liz took a step away from him, lowering her eyes to the ground. "Well, I've got to be going now, I'm already late for Transfiguration! I'll see you later, Professor Lupin!" she said hurriedly, turning to go. He caught her by the arm.  
  
"Hold on for a second, Miss Jordan, I was actually hoping to speak to you about something. Come to my office with me, please." He said.  
  
'YES! He invited me to his office! We'll be all alone! YES, YES, YES!!!' 'NO WAY LIZ! You are just coming to his office to talk about school or something! Besides, you quit thinking about him like that a loooong time ago and you will STOP it, NOW!'  
  
Her face must have shown her inner conflict, because he assured her that he would write Professor McGonagal a note telling her why she had missed class.  
  
"Okay, then, let's go!" she said brightly, forcing herself once and for all to keep any thoughts of her professor strictly professional.  
  
"My office is just around the corner. Let me get your books and then we'll go," he said, bending over swiftly to pick them up.  
  
"Thanks, Professor!" she said with a smile as he handed them to her.  
  
"No problem at all!" he said with a wink, and then headed towards his office, Liz walking by his side.  
  
'He winked at me, he winked at me!' 'STOP IT, STOP IT!'  
  
A/N: Whew, that was a long one! LOL! Thanks for your reviews everyone, hopefully I've gotten the hang of making the spacing and stuff come out right on ff.net, but if it doesn't, I assure you I've tried! Anyway, keep reading and reviewing!  
  
*Lori* 


	5. Chapter 5

*Disclaimer* Harry Potter and all of it's characters belong to J.K. Rowling, it is not mine, and I am not making any money off of this story.  
  
Driven Under  
  
Chapter Five  
  
"Please, sit down." Professor Lupin gestured toward a chair in front of his desk. Liz obliged, sinking into the plush material of the big red armchair. She looked around the office, which she had never even set foot in before. Despite being a pretty large room, it was cozy and warm. There was a fireplace on one wall, with a couple of chairs facing it and a tea table between them. There was a door behind the desk, leading to what she presumed to be his private quarters. Artwork adorned the walls, mostly paintings of knights in armor and other medieval scenes, which were quite common to Hogwarts. Liz noticed that there were no pictures of his family or friends. 'Odd' she thought, 'He seems the type to have his office crammed with personal things' There were no windows in the entire room, since the location of the office was almost exactly in the heart of Hogwarts. Lit candles of different shapes and size were spread about the room to make up for the lack of natural light, enchanted so that they would never go out or catch anything on fire. 'That's good,' Liz thought, 'as there are at least 15 candles alone on the piano, and he certainly wouldn't want the sheet music-Wait!' "You-you have your own piano in here?" she stuttered, her eyes wide, overwhelmed from seeing her favorite thing in the world for the first time in over two months. Lupin looked up from the papers he was putting on his desk. He smiled at the look on her face. "Yes, I put in a special request with professor Dumbledore to have a piano moved in here." "Can-can I play it? Please?" she begged, already half-standing. He laughed. "Hold on, hold on!" he protested. "After we talk, you can play to your heart's desire!" "Okayyy.." She said reluctantly, sitting back down. "But talk fast, I'm my fingers are practically trembling!" He laughed again. "I can see that, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait until we're finished." "Okay, now let's get down to business. I supposed you're wondering what I wanted to speak to you about." She nodded. "Well, it's actually because I'm a bit worried about Stephanie. I've noticed that the two of you are very close, and I was curious to see if you had any insight to what's wrong. Her grades in my class have been slipping since day one, and she just seems a bit out of it all. For instance, last Thursday," he said, referring to last week's DADA class when Stephanie had broken her quill in half, causing her to burst out crying. "Yes, I remember," Liz said with a grimace. She remembered it quite well, thank you, since she had been the one that had spent five minutes trying to console her sobbing friend, with little success. "So, do you have any ideas on what it be, then?" Professor Lupin asked apprehensively. "Yes, actually I do. Though I'm afraid I can't say, as I promised I wouldn't tell anyone, I can assure you that she's all better now, at least as far as I can tell." "So you're sure she's alright, then?" he asked her. "Appearances can be deceiving, you know." With that, his eyes clouded over and his mouth set itself in a firm line. Liz noticed the sudden change in his demeanor. "Are you alright, Professor?" she asked with real concern. "Yes, yes I'm fine," he answered. "It's just that things can be going on inside of people's heads that no one else can sense. Trust me, I've seen it happen." He frowned "Well, I'm very glad to hear that she confided in you. Talking to someone about your problems can do a world of good." His face darkened even more, his mind lost in thought. "Professor, are you sure something's not bothering you?" she asked him. Usually she wouldn't pry like this into one of her teacher's business, but the man looked totally angst ridden. "Yes, it's nothing, I promise." He told her, managing a small smile. 'Nothing indeed!' she thought. "You know, a wise man once told me that talking about your problems can do a world of good,' she said softly, grinning slightly. He laughed, and his face brightened again.  
  
"Touché! Now, how about we discontinue this serious discussion and you go sit in front of that piano and play me something." "Alright, if you insist.." She said in mock reluctance. She strode over to the piano, sat down, and glanced at the sheets of music in front of her. One of Chopin's nocturnes! She remembered the summer three years ago when she had driven her parents crazy memorizing them all. She hoped she remembered well enough to sound okay in front of Professor Lupin. She did. "Bravo!" he clapped after she finished. "Fine work!" "Well, I think that it's only fair that you play something for me now, Professor Lupin!" she said with a smile. "Not right now, I'm afraid, I have a class very shortly. Come back another time and we'll have ourselves our own little recital!" he said, smiling at her. "Now hurry to Transfiguration, and take my note with me, or else I can guarantee that you'll have detention with Professor McGonagal for the rest of the year!" he said, shooing her out the door. 'Well, even if I can't go out with him, he is a really good teacher, and a great friend, too!'  
  
The second Liz shut the door behind her, Remus sank back into his chair and massaged his temples, trying to ease his building headache. 'It's Rachel all over again,' he thought, thinking of Stephanie. 'No it's not, Remus! Stephanie is going to be fine! It's nothing like what happened to Rachel!' Still, he couldn't help thinking of how much Stephanie's behavior reminded him of Rachel's; the sudden withdrawal from the things and people she loved, the failed tests, the heartbreakingly sad look in her eyes.all of those things that had eventually led Remus to gently force the truth out of his best friend, and then look what had happened. "Don't think about that!" Remus moaned to himself softly, laying his head down on the table. The full moon was a whole two days away, and already he was feeling the effects. Being a werewolf was a real pain in the ass sometimes. He went back to his living quarters and took some sleeping pills, and then collapsed on his bed. "Thank God I don't have a class," Remus murmured, immediately feeling guilty for lying to Liz. 'For her sake I hope history doesn't repeat itself' was his last thought as he fell into a medication induced sleep.  
  
A/N: For those of you who are thinking "What's the big deal about divorced parents?", for the sake of my story (hehe) let's pretend that it's a HUGE deal (and very embarrassing) for two wizards to get a divorce. That said, keep reading, because more depressing stuff is definitely going to happen to Liz and crew.. 


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